EU tells Turkey pandemic not an excuse to ‘silence critical voices’ - by Zoe Didili

Efforts to curb the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic should not be used as an excuse to “silence critical voices”, Europe’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell said on Thursday, after more than a hundred of protesters were detained after protesting against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s appointment of a controversial party member to head Istanbul’s Bogazici university.

“The European Union is seriously concerned over the negative developments in Turkey in the areas of the rule of law, human rights and the judiciary,” the Union’s External Action Service (EEAS) said in a statement.

“The COVID-19 pandemic cannot be used as a means to silence critical voices,” it added, arguing that the st

Read more at: EU tells Turkey pandemic not an excuse to ‘silence critical voices’ | New Europe

Putin’s treatment of protesters and rivals shows weakness, not strength: by Simon Tisdall

 Vladimir Putin is no ordinary two-faced politician. For Russia’s Janus-like president, double-speak, disingenuousness and duplicity are a way of life. For 20 years, he has shown himself the master of having it both ways. But is he about to be found out? As riots shake Moscow, with the promise of more to come, is an end to the long, dark night of the Putin supremacy a dawning possibility?

On the infrequent occasions when Putin openly presents himself to the Russian public, he cultivates the persona of a caring, fatherly figure, not unlike a tsar, valiant in the cause of people and nation. Kremlin publicists project images of a bare-chested, no-nonsense tough guy and stern, stalwart patriot, as was the case on Sunday when he was pictured reviewing a St Petersburg naval parade.

But the alternative reality was also on show at the weekend, when riot police violently attacked pro-democracy demonstrators enraged by official attempts to fix upcoming municipal elections. More than 1,300 people were arrested. It was the most serious disturbance since 2012, when protests targeting Putin’s rule brought a sweeping crackdown on civil and legal rights. In this netherworld that is Putin’s Russia, any pretence of meaningful democratic and electoral processes has been all but abandoned. Political opposition is discouraged and penalised. Free speech and peaceful assembly are severely restricted, media are censored, courts and judges are nobbled, and NGOs, religious minorities and human rights activists are harassed and persecuted.

Nor, on the dark underside of the Putin presidency, is he the universally respected, almost omnipotent figure his backers and boosters like to pretend. His latest nationwide telephone call-in show in June produced sharp criticisms, despite the risk of reprisals. “Just one question: when will you leave?” one brave caller asked. Another compared Putin to Leonid Brezhnev, whose Communist-era reign remains synonymous with harsh economic times.

The Russian regime’s shocking treatment of Alexei Navalny, the best-known opposition leader, is cruelly reminiscent of that cold war period, when dissidents were jailed and tortured. Navalny was picked up again last week, for no good reason, and jailed for 30 days. Now it is feared he may have been attacked in prison with a chemical agent, as has happened to so many Putin opponents in the past.

Read More at:Putin’s treatment of protesters and rivals shows weakness, not strength | Simon Tisdall | Opinion | The Guardian

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Turkey: Vision versus Suppression, "What a difference a day makes", as Turkey Celebrates its "Victory Day" over invading Allied Troops 96 years ago

Turkey's visionary leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Turkey commemorated the 96th anniversary of the War of Independence today Aug. 30 Victory Day with celebrations, as politicians marked the day’s importance and stressed their determination in protecting Turkey’s independence.

Throughout his presidency, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk diligently implemented his visions of a modern nation.

For over 600 years, Turks had only known Sultans as absolute monarchic rulers, a system to be obeyed.

But to bring his nation into a new era, Atatürk knew he needed to expedite Turkey’s social, political, and technological standards to those of Europe. He also understood that encouragement was needed for the citizens who were war-shocked, exhausted, near poverty, and confused about this new way of governing.

He was also quite aware that progress meant a struggle with those who advocated the return of ancient traditions and the religious Ottoman Sultanate dynasty.

Atatürk scrapped the archaic, convoluted Ottoman form of government and replaced it with policies and principles based on Swiss and other European laws. More than just trading one system for another, Atatürk dedicated himself to his people, believed in them, and knew that they would value the reformations as deeply as he did. As a result, Turkey was transformed into a secular nation with westernized legal, economic, social, educational, and cultural programs.

The following highlights the most prominent aspects of Atatürk’s reforms:

• Abolished the Ottoman Sultanate (late 1922).
• Declared the Turkish Republic (29 October 1923).
• Formed the office of Prime Minister, President, and a democratically-elected National Assembly (1923).
• Adopted a new constitution (1924).
• Abolished the Caliphate (leadership of the Muslim religion) and restricted its theocratic institutions (early 1924).
• Replaced the religious education system with a national education system (1924).
• Adopted the Gregorian calendar and western time zone system, including defining the workweek as Monday to Friday (1925).
• Prohibited the veil and other religious-based clothing but only encouraged western-style clothing for women. Atatürk believed that women would follow fashions according to their free will.
• Enacted a revised legal system, including the Civil Code, Penal Statute Law, and Trade Law, based on Swiss and Italian civil law (1924-1937).
• Replaced the Arabic script with the Latin alphabet, which was mandated to be taught in schools (1928). Atatürk believed that the Latin alphabet would be easier to teach to a largely (90%) illiterate population, easier to learn, and therefore would immediately impact the literacy rate.
• Promoted construction of thousands of new schools, made literacy reform a priority, and made primary education compulsory and free.
• Accelerated Turkey’s post-war economic development by establishing state-owned factories for textile and agricultural industries.
• Supported construction of the national Turkish State Railways (1927).
• Modernized state banking systems.
• Promoted advancement in the fields of science, health and medicine, law, and education.
• Adopted the international numeric system (1928).
• Supported Turkey’s culture by establishing a Turkish Historical Society (1931), a Turkish Language Association (1932).
• Adopted the International System of Units to standardize national measurements (1933)
• Changed the tax code to reduce the tax burden on peasants.
• Enacted women’s suffrage rights (1934).
• Legalized gender equality and women’s emancipation rights (1926-1934). 
• Passed a law to require that everyone have a surname instead of surnames based on titles of honor (1934).
• Developed foreign policies of neutrality and cultivated friendly international relationships.
• Replaced a provincial legal system (called millet) that allowed every minority community to govern themselves with a unified, secular constitution.
• Established the Directorate for Religious Affairs, which affirmed the new Republic of Turkey’s protection and equality of all religions, including Islam.
• Encouraged reform of the Turkish language by establishing a Language Commission that replaced foreign words with Turkish ones with standardized spelling and phonetics.
• Declared that “Culture is the foundation of the Turkish Republic.” Strongly supported the arts, such as opera, theatre, literature, and music; opened museums; encouraged interest in Turkey’s indigenous Anatolian heritage, eg, naming the state-owned banks Sümerbank after the Sumerians and Etibank after the Hittites; and encouraged the importance of Turkish folk Art.

Today on August 30, 96 years later, Turkish present President,  Recep Tayip Erdogan, wrote in the guest book at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, without mentioning Turkey's greatest leader Ataturk by name, the following comment.
 
“Increasing threats, violations and attacks against our country’s independence will not withhold us from our ideals and aims. The Turkish nation is defending its independence as it did 96 years ago with the inspiration from its thousands of years of historic values,” 

Parliamentary Speaker Binali Yıldırım, Vice President Fuat Oktay, Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, high judicial authorities, ministers and top soldiers were among guests who visited Anıtkabir as a part of official celebrations.

So far, President Recep Tayip Erdogan,  now the sole ruler of Turkey, major claim to success has been the elimination of all opposition forces against his regime, which included: 

1) Some 160,000 people were detained for questioning, of which over 77,000 were formally arrested for alleged links to terror organizations, including Gulen’s network and outlawed Kurdish rebels. Those arrested include military personnel, police, journalists, lawmakers, judges and prosecutors.

2) According to Justice Ministry figures, close to 35,000 people put on trial for links to Gulen’s network have been convicted so far. Around 14,000 others were acquitted.

3) More than 130,000 people have been purged from the public service through emergency government decrees. Those dismissed include tens of thousands of teachers and close to 6,000 academics. Around 1,300 people were re-instated to jobs by a commission that was set up to review cases but 18,000 other appeals were rejected.

4) Some 170 generals and around 7,000 other senior military officers were arrested as part of the crackdown. At least 58 generals and 629 senior officers have been convicted to life terms in prison so far in trials against military officers, according to Justice Ministry figures. Eight generals were acquitted.

5) At least 143 journalists or media workers are currently behind bars, most accused of links to Gulen or Kurdish rebels, according to the Turkish Journalists Syndicate. Using emergency decrees, the government closed down around 200 media organizations, including newspapers, periodicals, radio stations and television channels.

6) Ten legislators from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish political party, including former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, are in prison on terror charges for alleged links to Kurdish militants. Enis Berberoglu, a legislator from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, is in prison convicted of espionage for giving an opposition newspaper images allegedly showing Turkey’s intelligence agency trucking weapons into Syria.

7) Human rights activist and businessman Osman Kavala is in jail pending trial, accused of seeking to overthrow the government and having alleged links to Gulen. Eleven prominent activists were arrested last year at their hotel on an island off of Istanbul while on training. They were eventually released from jail pending the outcome of their trial for supporting terror groups. Among them was Taner Kilic, Amnesty International’s former Turkey chairman, who was released earlier this month.

“Authenticity is the language of visionaries" wrote  Andrena Sawyer - Unfortunately Turkey today lacks that vision, so brilliantly carried out by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and is turning back the clock towards pre-Atatürk days. 

A  report from the Canadian AP  Global News  
and EU-Digest

Ukraine: Fear and loathing in Ukraine: a very “European” protest - by Denys Gorbach and Oles Petik

Discussing the far right in Ukraine is an uneasy, or should we say an all too easy, task for international commentators. Every manifestation of nationalist feelings, incident of hate speech, street violence, or usage of politically marked symbols is immediately advertised as further proof of the horrors of “the Kiev coup regime, with its racist and fascistic programmes” (the quote is, incidentally, taken from one of the readers’ comments at oDR) or explained away in the all-too-understanding manner of Maidan sympathisers opposing Russian imperialism.

In view of the impossibility to maintain a sober analytical perspective, many observers abstain from reporting and commenting on Ukrainian issues altogether. Indeed, the hysterical polemics between Putin’s fans and Maidan’s true believers is one reason why events of major significance in Ukraine are underreported or plainly ignored in serious western media. Contradictory facts are usually framed with regard to the military conflict and diplomatic talks, in which “Ukraine” (or the “Kyiv regime”) is perceived as a monolithic entity — be it a young democracy courageously fighting off the “hybrid war” or a “fascist neoliberal puppet of Washington masters”.

Yet the events, which are too often glossed over in this manner, can actually say something important about what’s going on inside the country.


Two weeks ago, a mass protest took place in Yagotyn, a small town outside of Kyiv. Local residents, cheered on by activists from various far right groups, protested against the construction of a new temporary accommodation centre for refugees.

A week later, Lviv became the arena of intense public confrontation over an Equality Festival scheduled for 19-20 March. The church, the far right, the city council, the police, and passive yet hostile general public joined forces to prevent the event from taking place — they were outraged with the LGBT+ component of the festival’s program.

Far from being “another day in fascist Ukraine” or “one more vicious provocation of Russian secret services and lying media”, these events actually reveal a new trend that is developing today in Ukrainian society: as people learn how to come together for genuine and spontaneous mass protests, the far right is learning how to infuse these actions with their specific agenda and to lead them.

Is there a way to prevail over populism in this conflict? The answer appears to lie on the surface: the socially progressive cause is doomed to fail unless it is accompanied by the “social cause” — the struggle against austerity and falling standards of life. Unless Ukrainian liberals seriously take on the socio-economic agenda, they are bound to lose to their populist rivals. These groups are perfectly able to combine their nationalism and social conservatism with social-democratic rhetoric, thus monopolising both the right and the left.

Read the complete report:: Fear and loathing in Ukraine: a very “European” protest | openDemocracy

Middle East: Who's the Real Troublemaker in the Middle East? - by Medea Benjami

Except for maybe the Affordable Care Act, nothing gets Republican politicians fired up like Iran.

In the first GOP debate alone, Scott Walker promised that he'd tear up the Iran nuclear deal on day one of his presidency. Carly Fiorina blamed the country for "most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East."

 Mike Huckabee vowed to topple the "terrorist Iranian regime and defeat the evil forces of radical Islam."

Oddly, when the Republican candidates complain about the "evil forces of radical Islam" or trouble in the Middle East, they never seem to mention Saudi Arabia.

Iran's no democratic paradise. But on many counts, Washington's Saudi allies are even worse. The Saudi royals crush dissent with an iron fist, spread extremist ideology and invade their neighbors with impunity.

Domestically, the Saudi regime oppresses women, religious minorities and millions of foreign workers. And it brutally represses criticism from human rights activists, prompting condemnation from both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, for example, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes just for writing a blog the government considered critical of its rule. 

Hundreds of political prisoners languish in prison -- including Badawi's lawyer, who was sentenced to 15 years for his role as a human rights attorney. New legislation effectively equates criticism of the government and other peaceful activities with terrorism.

Saudi women aren't permitted to appear in public without adhering to a strict dress code. They need the approval of a male guardian to marry, travel, enroll in a university, or obtain a passport and they're prohibited from driving.

Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution rates in the world, killing scores of people each year for a range of offenses including adultery, apostasy, drug use and sorcery. It's conducted over 100 public beheadings this year alone.

Read more: Who's the Real Troublemaker in the Middle East?